Of Oceans Or Of Blood
by He will knock four times
Summary: Fey folk were never meant to be in captivity or to coexist with others. When one of the number is spirited away, this fact is tested. It is only a matter of time before someone breaks or something gives because this fey waits. Watching... Waiting... She will have her pelt back at any cost... The only question is if that time will be before she is turned... Axs
1. Chapter 1

_"Selkies are wild and fierce fey creatures thought to have the body of a woman but the skin of a seal. To look upon the woman was to look upon unearthly beauty but meant she had shed her pelt and hidden it somewhere. To look upon the seal was to look upon simple animal but meant that she had donned her pelt and would return to her beginnings in the ocean. So it had always been for this race of being and it shall be always that they are the same side of a single coin. It is said that to steal the pelt earned you the right to take one as a wife but for those select few who find a selkie and think themselves lucky to take this action; _

_ Be forewarned that a selkie is deeply attached to its beginnings and most will wait patiently to steal their pelts and return to the sea, often. The few who do not wait have left trails of blood in their wake in their attempt to regain their lost skins and return home._

_**Always...**_

It was night with a full moon but that's how they liked it. No four-finned came out at night. They could safely lay on the rock shelf and not need to worry about four-finned hunting them or sharks eating their young. A few others laid with their pelts off and she looked at them unable to see her family or friends in them. Intellectually she knew Ree was on the right, Bidt in the middle and Oher was on the left, but when she saw them all, all she saw was a four-finned. It unsettled her. So she looked away. She gazed out at the strange-glow-caves the four-finned dwelled in, the lights a source of curiosity. Some caught her stare and barked and laughed at her for it.

_Don't worry. Four-fin no come at night._

She looked back at the forty-three gleaming pelts in the moonlight and replied _Not worried. Curious about sun caves four-finn sleep in. Is that where sun go night?_ She was embarrassed when the adults barked in laughter again. What was so funny?

_That no sun. Only one sun. Four-fin not own sun. Four-fin find way carry small stars._

She had never heard of this ability being possessed by the four-finned and was amazed. _Four-fin able capture stars!? I want see stars!_ Suddenly her whole tribe had gone wild and was barking in anger and alarm. She had never seen them this upset since a whale had hunted one of their young who had strayed too far. The squeals, yips and barks peels from the young and old alike, the whole tribe shivering in the emotion of fear, anger and admonishment.

_You no go!_

_Four-fin dangerous! Hunt but no eat! _

_Pelt takers!_

_Stay away from four-fin!_

She finally managed to bark loud enough to promise not to go. This quieted them down considerably. A few yips or barks came aloud for a few more minutes. Eventually they settled down for sleep but she didn't miss the way that some of the adults hopped and waddled into a circle around her meaning she couldn't sneak off during the night to see stars. She knew four-fin were dangerous. She had been told so since she was a pup. They had strange ways with kelp-tangle-weeds that had taken her sires mother and shark-toothed-long-birds-rocks-that-flew and hunted both selkins and nonselkins with it.

Once she had seen a four-finned up close when it sat on a four-finned-made-rock. It had long fur on its head but naked everywhere else. It's pelt was loose and baggy from the neck down in a strange way she couldn't understand. But what had really fascinated her was the feet. The feet looked like a fish with no eyes, fins, or tails. Instead they had little soft-teeth that got smaller. It was the same for the other two fins had the same thing but longer. In fact the more she looked the she felt they weren't fins at all! But they weren't tentacles. They weren't jellyfish stingers. She didn't know what to make of the four-finned strange looks.

It had held a strange rock to its mouth making noises she had never heard before but really liked. It had seen her and reached out. Suddenly loud noises came from another four-finned and it was moving towards them with a kelpie-tangle-weed. The first four-finned repeated these noises to the second. She had hopped and wobbled away as fast as she could to the water knowing that they would have eaten her if they had caught her. After that she didn't really want to see them anymore. She would admit in private they made her curious but what she really wanted was to see stars up close. She shifted and curled up into a ball tucking her snout against her belly and her fins sharp against her side. She knew that maybe one day she would see the captured four-fin stars without breaking her promise.

Xxxxx One Year Later xxxxX

She angled her fins a little to the left, gaining speed needed and... Success! She bit and ground her teeth together enjoying the taste of the freshly caught fish, liking the salted scales and the fish guts. The blood clouded the waters around her and she paused, considering if she would need to eat more. The waters had warmed lately so she wouldn't need to eat to protect from the cold but then the fish might leave. On second thought, eating more would be good.

Then she saw him. One of the others coming and paused, hurriedly gulping down her food knowing they would have taken it from her. The gray seal came closer and that's when she knew there was trouble. She recognized the jagged scar running from tail to mid back. Inwardly she balked at his presence. Kuin. Not good. One of the rare males of the tribe and his large bulk made him definitely better in battle. She had two choices, fight for her hunting ground or flee and find new ones. If she fled then it set a precedence of the occurrence and he would feel free to steal her feeding area a second time and then a third.

No, she would definitely have to fight. He came closer, flattening his head and back lowering his head and angling his fins. She realized what he was going to do and knew he was gaining speed. She tilted downward immediately and dodged, spinning around and trying to move up towards his soft underside fast enough to discourage him. He saw this and angled down trying to shoot for her fins. She dodged again, her smaller size making her faster than his heavy bulk. They continued this dance for several minutes each trying to hit each other. But by the time they were done neither had succeeded in hitting the other. There was no tension as they were both happy. It had lost the aggression and turned into something fun for the both of them. It was a game that all silkies loved and they were no exception.

Finally they were both tired and needed to eat.

_We both eat here and go back others?_ She asked warily, knowing he could loose the feel for the game and insist that the feeding area was his alone and turn back to aggression.

He looked at her out of the side of his eye and considered it for a moment. _Yes._

They both ate their fill wary of the other while feeding but still enjoying the company. When they had finished they swam back to the beach in silence. She didn't hate or fear Kuin but he unsettled her and often tried to steal her food. Maybe it was because he was male. Out of the forty-three members of the tribe there were only eleven males, an unusually high amount she had been told. Which meant on average every four females gave birth to one male. She considered him. He was quiet compared to the others, yes he was aggressive but never fatally so. He was nice. She found herself admiring his pelt as they swam. It was a nice grey white, not the muddy browns others had. She paused, surprised at herself. She had never thought of a male that way before. Did it mean she was ready yet?

Before she could contemplate more she saw that water was shallow enough to be very close to the beach. They both peered out at the water, spotting the tribe a little farther left and a few young four-finned to the far right. Having judged it was safe enough they swam to the left and joined the others to dry off in the full, late afternoon, sun. She moved over closer to Oher and Oom, stretching out to dry her tan yellow pelt. It felt nice. So warm.

She was suddenly very drowsy and settled herself down. Yet here he was, that silver pelt and that quiet Kuin towering over her. She moved up, confused. Did he want her sun warming spot as well? There was plenty of space... She grew greatly embarrassed when his head bobbed forward and bumped against her cheek below her eye. Such a intimate gesture in front of everyone! It also meant that he viewed her as a female and was intent on her during whale season. She had never known... He moved away and settled down in the sun, going to sleep. Uln looked at her and she knew her friend was laughing.

_Good match Kuin with Seras. Had not known this was going happen. When this happen?_

She suddenly was very embarrassed because all her friends were intensely focused on her. She didn't want them all ganging up on her one by one so the best way would be all at once. And she didn't know what to do. Advice would be good.

_Tonight water rock. Speak then?_

They each looked at her and agreed. She laid back down and slept, with much more on her mind than ever before.

xxxxxx

... I seem to be a story starting junkie. Ask all the questions you'd like, I'll try to answer them. Oh, and I wish that I had been the first one to make a hellsing story with selkies. I'm not.

-He Will Knock Four Times


	2. Chapter 2

_"A selkies understanding of the world around them varies from tribe to tribe and the location they can be found. To date, there are tribes all over the world and the species as a whole are in no danger of extinction. However a specific classification is required to understand the culture you may encounter from tribe to tribe. Every tribe has a culture they encourage in their young which continues the cycle. Please keep in mind that no selkie is inherently better or worse than another based on their classification. _

_A sealite is the highest classification for they posses the ability to blend seamlessly with humans; they speak the language around them perfectly and dress in inconspicuous ways. They understand the latest amenities or conventions around them and have a high interest in the human world. In other words they could be our friends, husbands, wives and we might never find out. A sealite is not easy to discover but not the most difficult._

_A searin is the middle classification and they are considered eclectic tribes. A searin tribe neither encourages nor discourages encounters with humans. They leave this decision to the interest of their individual selkies. A searin selkie can posses either high or low skills of different kinds. They might have high human speech abilities but low blending abilities and are unable to remain unseen. A searin tribe is the easiest kind of selkie tribe to detect. A searin tribe from time to time, as a whole has been known to evolve to a sealite or devolve to a sealin._

_A sealin is very different and is the lowest classification. These tribes are highly uncivilized, have low speech abilities, no blending abilities and have no interest in their human counterparts. They also do not understand certain concepts like dishonesty or modesty. They strongly discourage encounters with humans, they rarely leave their pelts off their bodies for longer than an hour and have little to no understanding of the world outside their oceans. It is because a sealin almost never sheds its pelt that they are almost never discovered. They can be wild and fierce. It is with these selkies you must remain wary..."_

The water rock was simply a small shelf that extended from the beach around in a small shallow watered circle that formed a lagoon. The waters there was calm and soothingly safe, protecting them from high tide. She waddled onto the shelf with the others, finding it difficult to remain upright with her wide body on the narrow shelf. Should she change? Her acute night vision showed her that Ree and Oher were already doing it, their smooth skin emerging from the furred pelts.

She struggled for a moment trying to remember that feeling that triggered it. She did it so rarely. She suddenly remembered and her pelt began to feel felt loose and heavy. She worked to pull her arms inward, wriggling and then moving them up out of the mouth, her whole body tingling as she worked to remove it. Her skin stretched and shrank in such fantastically strange ways that she laughed, hearing a yip mixed with some sort of screeching noise.

Her vision blurred and changed as she removed her head from her pelt. She struggled, slowly disentangling herself from the skin until she suddenly had those strange not-flippers four-finned possessed. Disoriented and unaccustomed to moving like a bi-pedal would, she lost balance and fell onto her side, her feet still stuck in her pelts mouth.

Seras curled up, shivering from a lack of blubber and fur that kept her warm before. After a minute or so she grew accustomed to the change in temperature and tried to lift herself up. She padded at the ground finally getting her arms under herself but a lack of practice made her fall down again. She looked over seeing Bridt and Oom having the same trouble. She saw Oher and Ree, the smooth way they moved and copied it, until she was propped upwards with her not-flippers stretched out before her and her torso sticking in the air.

She moved her not-tentacles-not-flippers that were closer to her head, clumsily fumbling her pelt and laying it across her legs for warmth. She was not used to this body and the strange abilities it possessed were quite strange. She remembered the few scarce times she had shed her pelt before, curiosity getting the better of herself. Learning to speak four-finned-noise from Ree when they were younger had been a strange experience.

She worked at her mouth, opening it wide and trying to move the tongue, testing the sounds she could make. "Ooh-...oot." For a moment she liked this new mouth. The higher pitch and unfamiliar feel of it making it new and exciting. She tried it again, trying to remember how she was supposed to speak. Something with the tounge and teeth moving...

"Om-er... Oha-mer... -eerrr... Eer... Eeerrr... Hheerrr... Oh-...oHheEerrrr?" Finally getting it she tested the name on her tongue, feeling excited. "Oher! Aaa-... Ahh..." She felt her mouth squished up as it seemed to show her displeasure. She thought she had just gotten it. "Aii-...MMH! Oher I sp-spek..."

She babbled happily, trying to work and make four-finned-noise, not realizing that Oom and Bidt were doing the same. It took perhaps thirty minutes of senseless noise from the three of them, some help from Ree and Oher, but they had become accustomed to the mouths, able to make sounds more easily. Ree was the first to talk after helping.

"This no happen when you practice more!" She made this shrieking noise that Seras took to be laughing. Ree and Oher had always been queer ones in the tribe. They were often shedding their skins and pretending to be four-finned. They were able to talk and move like a four-fin better than anyone else in the tribe. Hoha always said that they would never get someone during whale season like that. But Seras thought it was amazing.

Oom spoke next, still hesitantly testing the words on her tongue. "Wh-why take... Takkeeh... Pelt off to-tooooOoo speak?"

Oher. "Because it fun! Safe! Four-fin hunt seal and selkie! No four-fin kill four-fin! Now we look like four-fin!"

I spoke up, eager to try more four-finned-noise. "H-hoha say nu-noh... Nooo four-fin come at-ha... Haaa... Night!"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Okay... So I'm currently in a safe house because this is probably the point where ALL you alls want to kill me. I understand its probably annoying to you, them speaking, but it gets better. I promise. Here's the thing though: seras's tribe is a sealin (if you read the very top, then you know) and in total Seras has only shed her pelt five times in eighteen years. 18/5=3.6. Once almost every four years. This means that she rarely practices being human.

Her tribe strongly discourages contact with four-finned and disapproves of Ree and Oher because in the sixteen they have been alive they have each changed an estimated 250 times. Do the math. 250/16=15.625. That's fifteen times a year. That's two times a month. This means that Seras, Oom and Bidt rarely shed their pelts, rarely walk or talk as humans. So yes it's annoying, but its also realistic, them struggling to speak while Oher and Ree excel.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I repeated myself, feeling better and more confident at speaking. "Hoha say no four-fin come at night!"

Bidt and Oom agreed with that sentiment. However the news Oher had was distressing. "No, Ree see four-finned last night. This four-fin come out at night. So four-fin look safest."

They each felt dismayed but after a few minutes it started. Bidt. "So Kuin with Seras? Stra-... stra...ooonnguh match. Gude... Goo- gooduh pups."

She felt embarrassed watching her friends give their approval. "I no thee..." She pause working until she got the sounds right. "I no think I want Kuin. He lead whe-when Uowl die. Then Kuin be one die next." She confessed this to them nervously. Kuin would be leader when Uowl died. The leader was responsible for watching over them at night, and if need be sacrificing his life for the good of everyone else. She didn't want to join with him if he would die. Worse, what if she gave birth to a son after Kuin was dead? Then her son would be leader someday and then he would die. Being leader was often the most dangerous position that they had. There was a look of understanding among them. They knew what being mate to a leader meant. But it also came with benefits and they weren't quite deterred.

"Death always possible," Bidt counters "but Kuin want only you. When whale season come he shown he only want you. This rare for us. My father have three pups with different mates one season. Now I have one half-brother one half-sister my age."

Seras hesitated. Finding a male who would only mate with her was rare. Bidt was right. But was it her time?

"I no know If I ready for Pups" she admitted. Oher laughed that shrieking noise again.

"My mother not know she ready either but here I am! You no worry! Everything fine!"

She held her doubts inside her because she knew they wouldn't understand. Why were they so certain Kuin was the right choice for her. She struggled internally as Ree told a story about a four-fin she saw. But why was she so in doubt that Kuin was the right one for her? Males among their kind were rare. Finding a male to mate with was good in of itself, but a male who would join only her was better. Strangely her inner monologue allowed her to ignore Ree's story and Oher's laughter. She hear a crackling noise over the sound of the waves and her head jerked around only to spot it.

A tall four-finned in the distance moving closer, those strange not-pelts a black and bright red brown. She stared entranced at his eyes for a moment, reminded of the color of coral. He came closer his foot crunching in the sand and she jerked out of her spell with Oom squealing like a seal, having forgotten she had left her pelt off. They all put their feet into their pelts mouths, feeling it tighten and suck them back in. They flopped into the waters quick as you please leaving the four-finned alone on the beach.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Before he had been resentful of his master to send him out to such a podunk area to investigate possible vampire attacks, but now... He stepped to where he had seen them only a minute ago, staring at the dark waters with a new interest. Perhaps some generous giving of credit to her idea would allow for an extended stay. If what he thought he saw was true then there's more to be seen to this are and more fun to be had.

Wwwwwwwwwwwwwww

For those of you wondering, those informational paragraphs in italics at the beginning are a sort of selkie compendium. I'm writing them as if someone was researching selkies. Kinda like "A Practical Guide To Dragons". It's actually important to the plot. But for now... Some humor:

Omake:

Author: Alucard... Why is the selkie, Seras shivering in terror in the corner?

Alucard grins: I have no idea

Author stares sternly until Alucard gives in.

Alucard: Fine! If you must know I showed her a discovery channel documentary. Nothing else happened.

Author: Of what?! When we showed her "Paranormal Experience" she didn't think it was scary! What movie could possibly do this to her?

Alucard: You'd be surprised. Can you guess what week it is?

Author pauses: no...

Alucard grins: Shark Week.

-He Will Knock Four Times


End file.
